Impulse Space’s Mira spacecraft is undergoing a structural test in preparation for its first flight in October. Credit: Impulse Space
WASHINGTON — In-space transportation services startup Impulse Space announced July 24 it has closed a $45 million iSeries A funding led by RTX Ventures, the venture capital arm of Raytheon Technologies.
Impulse Space is led by rocket engine designer Tom Mueller, a founding employee of SpaceX. The startup develops orbital transportation vehicles.
“With the support from RTX Ventures, Impulse Space continues on the path toward its mission to provide agile, economic logistics services in any orbit,” Mueller said in a news release.
The company last year announced a $20 million seed funding round. Impulse Space seeks to provide “last mile” delivery services for satellites launched on rideshare missions such as those flown by SpaceX on its Falcon 9 rocket.
Impulse Space said its upcoming missions include LEO Express-1, a geostationary orbit refueling mission and a mission to Mars.
Developing larger vehicle
The Series A funding will support the development of Impulse’s largest vehicle yet, called Helios. The company said the Helios kick stage enables direct to geostationary orbit missions, thus bypassing the need for a geostationary transfer orbit.
“RTX Ventures invests in companies that we believe provide breakthrough technologies that disrupt aerospace, defense and commercial aviation sectors,” said Daniel Ateya, president and managing director of RTX Ventures. “Our investment will help Impulse Space accelerate their growth and fuel innovation within the space economy.”
Other investors in the Series A funding round included Founders Fund, Lux Capital, Airbus Ventures and Space Capital.
Sandra Erwin writes about military space programs, policy, technology and the industry that supports this sector. She has covered the military, the Pentagon, Congress and the defense industry for nearly two decades as editor of NDIA’s National Defense…
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